VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- TRỊNH THỊ VÂN THE VIETNAM WAR SYNDROME IN FORREST GUMP MOVIE SCRIPT: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Hội chứng chiến tranh Việt Nam trong kịch bản phim Forrest Gump: Một phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán MA THESIS – TYPE 1 Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- TRỊNH THỊ VÂN THE VIETNAM WAR SYNDROME IN FORREST GUMP MOVIE SCRIPT: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Hội chứng chiến tranh Việt Nam trong kịch bản phim Forrest Gump: Một phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán MA THESIS – TYPE 1 Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201. Ngô Tự Lập Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I declare that this thesis ―The Vietnam War Syndrome in “Forrest Gump” Movie Script: A Critical Discourse Analysis‖ embodies the result of my own special work which has been composed by myself in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies. Trịnh Thị Vân January 05th, 2019 i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would firstly like to express my thankfulness for my supervisor, Dr. Ngô Tự Lập for all his help and guidance.
Were it not his support, I would not have the courage to complete a Master’s Thesis on this topic. His valuable comments and suggestions also played an important part in the finalization of this study. Furthermore, I am grateful to all the staff at ULIS Center for Learning Resources who have been always willing to help me with the books I need. I would also like to give thanks to all the lecturers at Faculty of Post- graduate Studies for all their adorable knowledge which made me broaden my mind to the world of language.
Special thanks, finally, to my husband and my son who stand by me throughout the time I did my research, without whom I could never be motivated enough to fulfil my work. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis ABSTRACT The fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 is a turning point that put the Vietnam War into an end after 20 years of conflicts. Considered the most controversial war in the 20th century, the Vietnam War deeply divides the American society. Especially, it causes the Vietnam Syndrome which still is an obsession of American people until today.
The research is carried out on a movie script of one of the most famous Hollywood films about the Vietnam War, Forrest Gump. The collected data are analyzed on the basis Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework for critical discourse analysis. As a result, the study reveals the different aspects of the syndrome considered as a psychological trauma expressing in many factors such as the topic, the plot, the characters, the setting, the genre, the theme songs, and the language of the whole movie. Moreover, the movie script exposes a long period of problematic and tragic time in the history of the United States.
Hopefully, the study will be a firm ground for further CDA research on the same topic. Key words: critical discourse analysis, Vietnam Syndrome, movie script, Vietnam War, American Studies iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study.
Background of the data. Design of the thesis. 6 Chapter 1: Literature Review. The Vietnam Syndrome.
Discourse and Discourse analysis (DA). Definitions of Discourse. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). History of CDA.
Definitions of CDA. Aims of CDA. Key notions of CDA. Tenets of CDA.
Fairclough’s approach to CDA. 20 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Differences between CDA and other approaches to DA. Review of previous works.
26 Chapter 3: Data analysis. Topic, plot, and characters. Setting and genre. The symbol of Forrest’s running.
41 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions. How is the Vietnam War Syndrome reflected in the movie script from CDA perspective. What are the implications of the study for teaching the Vietnam War concerning texts. Summary of the study.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research. 50 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study To be a young Vietnamese of the post-war generation, have you ever raised a serious question about what happened to the generations of our fathers and grandfathers during the Resistance War against America, that is called the Vietnam War in the US, from the 1950s to the 1970s? Or you only just heard about a war in which Vietnam was against the American Empire’s invasion.
And that the Americans brought tons of bombs and Agent Orange to flow down to our country, which made us be deep inside years of depression and smokes of war. The war, as all we know, has caused many disasters to our country such as starvation, poverty, disability, homelessness, and etc. The grief and loss of the war will last forever in the hearts of the Vietnamese generation after generation. In the United States today, ―Vietnam‖ is shorthand for their longest and most divisive foreign war, and it is often evoked as little more than a political or media cliché, a grip reference to a controversial war that ended badly, a time of domestic turmoil, a history to be avoided in the future.
For many Americans, the war’s meaning has been winnowed down to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC where they stand in silence, filled with emotion, but unsure how to move beyond their private reflections to a broader engagement with this daunting subject. They, the same as many young Vietnamese in our generation, are still going to find the answers to the questions how the war began, why it bred so much dissert or why it lasted so long. As a result, many American filmmakers from Hollywood have worked for years to find out the reasons why the United States got bogged down in the war, also acted out the real nature of the 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis war under different points of view. It has been 43 years since the last US combat troops left Vietnam, but the conflict continues to play an outsized role in American politics and popular culture.
From John Wayne’s stern-jawed performance in the 1968 propaganda film The Green Berets to Robert Downey, Jr.’s antics in the 2008 meta-comedy Tropic Thunder, the war’s complexity and social impact have made it an irresistible subject for generations of filmmakers and moviegoers. Among those, Forrest Gump, one of the most famous films about the Vietnam War, is an epic American film detailing a history of an America that was locked in the revolving orbit of the Vietnam War. Also, it clearly and deeply indicates life of veterans coming back from the war who suffered from a serious disease called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or the Vietnam Syndrome. Although in a speech on 1 March 1991 after the Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991), the US President George Bush declared ―By God, we’ve kicked the Vietnam Syndrome once and for all‖ (Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 1991, p.549), it actually does exist in American veterans’ mind and soul who came back from the Vietnam War, and in the whole society as well.
So how exactly the Vietnam Syndrome appears in the script of the Forrest Gump movie, in order to find out the answer to this question, I manage to do a research called ―The Vietnam War Syndrome in “Forrest Gump” Movie Script: A Critical Discourse Analysis”. Aims of the study The research is able to argue the nature of the continuing effects of the Vietnam War as reflected in American cinema and the extent to which the Vietnam Syndrome is still relevant in American culture. Another aim of this 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis study is to provide experiences in applying CDA methods into cinematic texts, especially movie scripts. To fulfill these purposes, the study will answer the following research questions: (1) How is the Vietnam War Syndrome reflected in “Forrest Gump” movie script from CDA perspective? (2) What are implications of the study for teaching the Vietnam War concerning texts? 3.
Scope of the study In the framework of the study, this thesis only focuses on analyzing the Vietnam Syndrome represented in the script of the film Forrest Gump which was released in 1994 by Paramount Pictures. The factors such as the topic, the plot, the characters, the setting, the genre, the theme songs, and the language of the movie are analyzed to figure out the syndrome hidden inside. Methods of the study This research is conducted based on a Critical Discourse Analysis approach which will be further discussed in the next sections. The qualitative method and content analysis are applied for the research.
After collecting data in the movie script, the analysis was exercised on the basis of Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework: Description – Interpretation - Explanation. Details of the analysis procedure are presented in the Methodology chapter. Background of the data Among a series of films about the Vietnam War, Forrest Gump was chosen because it is interesting - a six Academy Award winner. Also, the film 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis is in English.
And, it is a film with a strong Vietnam War theme. It not only shows the criticism of American involvement in the conflicts but also an extremely realistic Vietnam War combat scene. It also presents a cozy view of the war by portraying it through Forrest’s innocent, uncritical, and child-like eyes. The film honors the army and portrays the soldiers as normal, decent young men who were doing their duty for America.
Forrest’s heroic actions add a patriotic view to American involvement in Vietnam and make the army and soldiers look brave, loyal and chivalrous. Their innocence is also shown in their will to get home, creating sympathy for the US. Forrest’s lack of knowledge regarding the ―Vietcong‖ is suggestive to the lack of knowledge displayed by the whole army regarding the policy of containment. The conditions of war in the film are displayed as tough and the guerrilla warfare that takes place is shown to have a high human cost.
The movie is only slightly critical of US involvement in Vietnam, but as it is shown entirely from the US perspective, it is a largely romantic and patriotic view of the army and the war. The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial armed conflicts during the 20th century. It ended in 1975 after 20 years of fighting and more than 55,000 Americans and between three and four million Vietnamese dead. Unlike earlier wars, however, the Vietnam War did not unite the nation to a common cause, but tore it apart.
Many people were against the war as they believed that the soldiers were only being sent to their deaths, and that the war was not very productive for the United States. Many of the soldiers returned home only to be called by protesters as "baby killers." The war first started towards the beginning of the Cold War when the United States attempted at eliminating any Communist Presence in Vietnam. The main presidents during this war were President Lyndon B. Johnson and President Nixon who were 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.analysis known for authorizing hundreds of thousands of troops to be sent to Vietnam.
President Nixon was known for his idea of "Vietnamization" where he would gradually bring troops from Vietnam home and end the war soon. Design of the thesis There are three main parts in this research paper.